Don Imus - "nappy-headed hos"
April 10, 2007
Don Imus characterized the winning women's basketball team of Rutgers as "nappy-headed hos." That is going way too far in my opinion.
Why do guys like Don Imus go too far? Is it to stir people up so that he will be in the spotlight and gain even more publicity? How can such remarks come out of a person's mouth if they are not planted deep inside?
You know in my opinion whatever joy and sense of achievement the women felt for their hard work and dedication needed to become winners is now overshadowed by the hurtful remark by Don Imus. I would not want to be responsible for that shift from joy to hurt. An apology cannot take that away.
Just when we think we live in a country where people are equal, someone like Don Imus comes along and we realize, we do not. Groups of people and individuals are singled out because of their race or religion or where they live. I can relate to this because I live in West Virginia, Appalachia, where we are often referred to as "hillbillies" in a negative way.
Those slurs are hard to overcome. First of all, you don't really understand why people have separated you from others and what gives them the right to judge what makes you different? Are they insulting you because of your appearance, the way you dress, the color of your skin, texture of your hair or your dialect? What gives these people the right to single you out for any of these reasons? What about them?
People who hold the public's attention have an important role. Lou Dobbs on Good Morning America this morning, April 10, 2007, seems to think an apology may be good enough since Don Imus does charity work for children. So does charity work cancel out racial slurs? I suppose money is the deciding factor. If and when people stop supporting those who sponsor Don Imus, then, "no" charity work does not cancel out the remark "nappy-headed hos."
I remember a very hurtful remark made to me one time by an important, winning coach at my high school. I'm sure the remark was forgotten a few minutes after it was uttered by the girls' basketball coach but it has stayed with me all these years. I was in the 9th grade and big-boned and tall for my age. It seems the girls were shorter and of slighter build then. I was not overweight but a healthy size and 5'8" in the 9th grade. I was not very athletic, I assume from the remark which was, "You should be able to do a lot more than the others on the basketball court, after all, you are a big, healthy, country girl." I was raised in the country, healthy and tall - three things I wanted so desperately to deny, he brought out in front of 50 of my peers. I have not forgotten those words.
But those words are not the worse thing that has happened to me, you see, I live in West Virginia. I live in Appalachia. When those words are uttered outside the region, a red flag goes up at least in people's minds. For some reason, the people of West Virginia and Appalachia are singled out for insults on a regular basis. When you leave this region, you automatically shift into the fight mode to defend your region and your people. I have yet to understand why people outside this region feel they have the right to insult and put down a group of people based on where they live. That brings me back to the remark by Don Imus calling the women's basketball team at Rutgers "nappy-headed hos." That insult applies to a group of people much like "hillbillies" is applied to people who live in West Virginia and Appalachia.
By
B. L. Dotson-Lewis
Author of Sago Mine Disaster (Featured Story) Appalachian Coalfield Stories
Publication date: Jan. 19, 2007
Appalachia: Spirit Triumphant (a cultural odyssey of Appalachia) Publication date: May 2004
Joseph